Trucker Sues To Get Urine Back

COURTS

Man Says Drug Test Results Not His

An Orlando truck driver, fired after a laboratory reported it found traces of morphine and cocaine in his urine, has sued the lab in an attempt to get back the urine.

''I just want to prove it's not mine,'' said Kevin Hersey.

Hersey was fired by Transus Inc., an Orlando trucking company where he worked for six months, in April after a random drug test.

In a suit filed Aug. 16 in state Circuit Court in Orlando, Hersey seeks no damages, just that Transus and SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories, the company that conducted the test, release the urine sample to him.

Hersey said last week that he wants to submit the sample to DNA testing, a sophisticated molecular test that could determine whether the urine came from him.

Hersey said he has never used morphine or cocaine. ''It had to be switched. I don't do drugs,'' he said.

The suit accuses SmithKline of negligence in the way it conducted the test.

SmithKline spokesman Tom Johnson said the company had not officially been notified of the suit and therefore had no comment.

The suit also accuses Transus of wrongfully firing Hersey.

Freda Adams, Transus' assistant director of personnel in Atlanta, where the company is based, said in matters of drug testing and related dismissals, the company ''relies solely on the medical . . . officer.''